Low Volume Manufacturing

Incorporating Screw Threads Into FDM Parts
Screw threads are one of the most common components used for fastening parts in an assembly or attaching pipe tubing together. Here are five ways to incorporate screw threads into Fused Deposition Modeling parts, followed by some useful applications.

Threads directly from the FDM machine
Depending on the pitch and helical profile, it may be possible to design your desired thread right into the CAD file. Typically, large pitched threads on parts used for...

Many years ago I was given the opportunity to design my first product. The terms rapid prototyping, 3D printing, and 3D prototyping were foreign to me. Although I felt confident in my abilities to design a complex piece of equipment, I was ill-prepared when it came to making the parts I needed.

We had a large in-house machine shop and I was assigned a machinist to build my prototypes. I would bring him a drawing of a part I’d worked on all day. He would bring me the part and I would find an error...

Xerox, the global office-equipment supplier, recently developed a printer especially for a niche market that needs features not found on a typical printer. This low-volume product posed a small problem: It required a modified cable connector that Xerox’s supplier was only willing to manufacture in large-volume runs.

So Xerox senior model maker Duane Byerley found a way to modify an existing connector. “I pulled out an X-Acto knife and in about 20 minutes was able to cut away the extraneous...

Most companies obtain custom manufacturing tools either by purchasing them from a subcontractor or building them internally. Either approach can be expensive and can take a fair amount of leadtime. Because of this companies often make do without jigs and fixtures that could increase process throughput and reduce scrap and rework. By substantially reducing the cost and leadtime required to produce custom manufacturing tools, additive manufacturing can justify building custom tools for...

Aerospace manufacturers often produce small volumes to begin with and then customize products to customer need. Direct digital manufaturing using materials that meet FST (flame, smoke and toxicity) requirements lets manufacturers reduce cost by enabling production quantities as low as one. Requiring no tooling, additive manufacturing (a.k.a. 3D printing) enables each component to be customized in a production run without significantly affecting the manufacturing cost.

"Constant Improvement" is a...

Advanced Composite Structures (ACS) repairs components for planes and helicopters, and manufactures low-volume composite parts for the aerospace industry. A typical job might include repairing a helicopter blade or building an aircraft camera fairing. Tooling is often a big portion of a job's cost, including layup tools to create composite parts and fixtures for drilling. 

In the past, CNC machining weighed down ACS with heavy costs and lead times. The typical tool cost around $2,000 to make...

For many companies, the design process begins with the previous version of the product and proceeds with a series of step-by-step improvements. This approach may make sense when you are limited by conventional manufacturing methods such as injection molding and CNC machining. With direct digital manufacturing, on the other hand, the sky is the limit. So grab a pencil and a clean sheet of paper and let your imagination run free. Did you previously build a housing from four components so you could...

A new mindset has made Acist Medical Systems more agile than ever. A medical-device manufacturer with a clinical presence in more than 40 countries, Acist specializes in contrast injection systems. Its devices let caregivers in cardiology and radiology infuse dye into the vascular system so doctors can better see patients’ anatomies.

Creating end-use parts on Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) systems has improved Acist’s processes in several ways. Because it’s engaged in direct digital...

“We get rid of waste. We only print the things that people actually want,” says Autodesk Labs vice president Brian Mathews in part of Bloomberg Businessweek’s CEO Guide to 3D Printing. The collection of articles, photos and multimedia aims to clue the corner office in to what engineers have known for years: 3D printing is revolutionary.

Alongside content on aerospace and bioprinting, Mathews’ video focuses on the future of finished consumer goods. Though cost-ineffective with old-fashioned...

What kind of savings could you see? ScriptPro, which manufactures automated pill-dispensing systems for pharmacies, realized a net savings of nearly 80 percent – savings that were easy to swallow.

Robotic dispensing systems, which automate the pill bottle filling function, allow for more patient counseling time and reduced wait times. The large variety of vial sizes available, however, posed design and manufacturing challenges.  ScriptPro, therefore, customizes its machines for each pharmacy.

As...

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology is helping manufacturers get complex products to market more quickly and at less expense than more traditional manufacturing processes. Following are just a few examples of the advantages offered:

Repeatability. Fused Deposition Modeling uses thermoplastic material, which provides for more consistent, finely finished models and parts, speeding your product to market faster.

Digital technology. With only a change to the CAD data, new variations of products...

The University of Minnesota Formula SAE Team found that FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) is a powerful tool and teamed with RedEye's rapid prototyping capibilities to help fine-tune their designs and build their low-volume custom parts.

In total, three complete intake assemblies were built out of FDM ULTEM 9085.  One assembly was used on their dynamometer in the lab.  That one was used to get their manufacturing process sorted out.   

The maroon and gold assembly that is shown on the car was...

Direct digital manufacturing of plastic parts has come a long way. But, how close are we to do-it-yourself manufacturing?

Advancements in FDM technology are making it possible to not only use additive manufacturing for rapid prototyping, but low-volume manufacturing too. In fact, muscle cars are being restored today using low-volume manufacturing. The Pit Viper, a restored supercharged 1968 Ford Mustang built by TPI (Total Performance Inc.), is an impressive example. After exploring traditional...

Thermal Dynamics, one of the world’s largest suppliers of manual and automated advanced plasma-cutting equipment knows plasma cutting uses considerable electrical power and generates a lot of heat to power supplies. To safeguard its electronic equipment, a special thermal-interface material, which transfers heat, is applied using hand-held air-powered pumps, commonly called “goo guns.”

Unfortunately, each time the heavy guns are used, a small amount of expensive material is lost. While several...

The following events, although fictional, are very real problems in companies with low volume product needs.

Design Engineer (DE): " I just spoke with our tooling vendor and they are quoting us $15,000 just for the tool and the lead time is 4 weeks."

Engineering Manager (EM): Gets out his calculator. "We only need 50 parts, that's $300 per part not including their molding costs. We need these out in the field next week if possible. What's with the long lead time?"

DE: "Remember we designed in...

The white paper – “Is now the time to try direct digital manufacturing?” was authored by Stratasys CEO Scott Crump in 2009. Over the past two years the trend of direct digital manufacturing has continued to grow, and this paper is more relevant today.

The paper discusses how Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM) (also called rapid manufacturing) is worthy of consideration as a way to reduce costs when producing manufacturing tools or finished goods in low volume. And it looks at how Stratasys used...